...I know this is HN, but there are other takeaways from this kind of essay than: "Well, let's make a business out of washing machines" or "How do we make a better washing machine?"
1. Certain inventions become ubiquitous because they fill an important, if pedestrian need. So sometimes it's worth asking, "Why do we care about X?", not just, "How do we make money from it?" In fact, I think asking why the Internet is important enough to make a viable business out of is probably one of the first questions a startup should ask in the planning stages, rather than just, "This will be successful because it's on the Internet and more and more people are also on the Internet"
2. Revolutionary inventions/reforms outside of your own domain may create new supply-and-demand forces within your domain.
Purely anecdotally, my great-grandmother (who lived through the majority of the technological advances of the 20th century) rated indoor plumbing as the best of them. I think we tend to get caught up in a definition of "innovation" which is "the same thing, but 10% faster" as tech folks, and the change of perspective is worthwhile.
“Women started having fewer children, gained more bargaining power in their relationships and enjoyed a higher status."
I'm not buying it. It's true women no longer require a man to pay the bills, but by the same token household appliances mean men don't need women to keep house.
The thrust of the article is probably correct, though. There were a whole lot of changes in the 19th and 20th century that had a bigger effect than the internet, though I think the interviewee glosses over online retailing. You can buy almost everything you need in life over the web now, which is a both a big time saver and a reduction in the number of opportunities to form chance relationships.
I posted the OP but I agree with you...I think the author is jumping to unsupported conclusions. However, I've never really thought about the time saved from washing clothes. In raw amounts of time, it probably has done more (so far) to change society, since individuals at every geographical level need to wash clothes (outside nudist colonies)...whereas it's possible to have a thriving local business/enterprise that does not have an Internet presence...for the time being.
* Also, I think the Internet's benefits are harder to quantify. Everyone can think about how much time and energy they'd spend washing clothes; it's much harder to visualize what you'd be doing without the Internet. For example, the Internet has exposed me to a lot of educational material and distribution channels that has allowed me to explore new career and personal opportunities. It did not necessarily save me time because I may have gone down another thought process entirely without the insights gained.
(and of course, this phenomenon affects those in the information sector disproportionately...just as the washing machine wouldn't affect the change in lifestyle for the upper-class, who may just have to pay more for clotheswashing but may not have a drastic change in lifestyle)
"You can buy almost everything you need in life over the web now"
In 1910 you could buy almost everything you needed in life from the Sears Catalog (seriously, that thing was enormous; you could even buy a complete house as a kit of parts).
I never really appreciated washing machines until I had to wash my clothes by hand for a couple weeks. It takes forever and I couldn't even get my clothes fully clean (they still smelled a bit).
The amount of leisure time humanity has gained from washing machines must be enormous.
The point is entirely that there are other dimensions by which to measure cultural change, in addition to "linking the world" and "globalization."
I can assure you that most people now do not consider indoor plumbing, washing machines, and dish washers as big things.. but then consider what happens when there's no power or water for a week. While people have internet access through their phones, and can make business deals to the other side of the world, they can't operate the various home appliances which made life feel normal. These are the things which used to be done by servants and women of the household, back before there was home electricity.
There's way more to women's liberation than washing machines. For example, contraception. Besides that, an egalitarian society could have men share in the washing. So the importance of the washing machine is lost on me.
Similarly, I think Chang is underestimating the internet here, there's more to the internet than online shopping. Chang mentions reading the news. Does it occur to him that, with the internet, we're getting live firsthand news accounts from almost everywhere, almost instantly. The "fourth estate" is more powerful than ever. Transparency is growing. This is great news for the billions of people who live with authoritarian or corrupt governments.
Given that throughout human history up to and including today, most people have never lived in a democracy, the democratizing effects of the internet should not be underestimated.
"an egalitarian society could have men share in the washing"
And no, it doesn't work that way. The men were spending all their time doing heavy manual labor in the fields (another area where technology has been incredibly liberating).
> So the importance of the washing machine is lost on me.
That's because we have them. It's like breathing -- you don't notice it until someone puts his hand over your mouth.
> There's way more to women's liberation than washing machines.
There certainly is, but liberation proceeds one step at a time. If they spent their days hand-washing clothes at the riverbank, women wouldn't have any energy left to notice their oppression.
16 comments
[ 4.0 ms ] story [ 54.2 ms ] thread1. Certain inventions become ubiquitous because they fill an important, if pedestrian need. So sometimes it's worth asking, "Why do we care about X?", not just, "How do we make money from it?" In fact, I think asking why the Internet is important enough to make a viable business out of is probably one of the first questions a startup should ask in the planning stages, rather than just, "This will be successful because it's on the Internet and more and more people are also on the Internet"
2. Revolutionary inventions/reforms outside of your own domain may create new supply-and-demand forces within your domain.
“Women started having fewer children, gained more bargaining power in their relationships and enjoyed a higher status."
I'm not buying it. It's true women no longer require a man to pay the bills, but by the same token household appliances mean men don't need women to keep house.
The thrust of the article is probably correct, though. There were a whole lot of changes in the 19th and 20th century that had a bigger effect than the internet, though I think the interviewee glosses over online retailing. You can buy almost everything you need in life over the web now, which is a both a big time saver and a reduction in the number of opportunities to form chance relationships.
* Also, I think the Internet's benefits are harder to quantify. Everyone can think about how much time and energy they'd spend washing clothes; it's much harder to visualize what you'd be doing without the Internet. For example, the Internet has exposed me to a lot of educational material and distribution channels that has allowed me to explore new career and personal opportunities. It did not necessarily save me time because I may have gone down another thought process entirely without the insights gained.
(and of course, this phenomenon affects those in the information sector disproportionately...just as the washing machine wouldn't affect the change in lifestyle for the upper-class, who may just have to pay more for clotheswashing but may not have a drastic change in lifestyle)
In 1910 you could buy almost everything you needed in life from the Sears Catalog (seriously, that thing was enormous; you could even buy a complete house as a kit of parts).
The amount of leisure time humanity has gained from washing machines must be enormous.
I can assure you that most people now do not consider indoor plumbing, washing machines, and dish washers as big things.. but then consider what happens when there's no power or water for a week. While people have internet access through their phones, and can make business deals to the other side of the world, they can't operate the various home appliances which made life feel normal. These are the things which used to be done by servants and women of the household, back before there was home electricity.
Similarly, I think Chang is underestimating the internet here, there's more to the internet than online shopping. Chang mentions reading the news. Does it occur to him that, with the internet, we're getting live firsthand news accounts from almost everywhere, almost instantly. The "fourth estate" is more powerful than ever. Transparency is growing. This is great news for the billions of people who live with authoritarian or corrupt governments.
Given that throughout human history up to and including today, most people have never lived in a democracy, the democratizing effects of the internet should not be underestimated.
Spend a year living without appliances, electricity, running water. Then you'll understand.
And no, it doesn't work that way. The men were spending all their time doing heavy manual labor in the fields (another area where technology has been incredibly liberating).
That's because we have them. It's like breathing -- you don't notice it until someone puts his hand over your mouth.
> There's way more to women's liberation than washing machines.
There certainly is, but liberation proceeds one step at a time. If they spent their days hand-washing clothes at the riverbank, women wouldn't have any energy left to notice their oppression.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bb/Lionel_Wa...
> Besides that, an egalitarian society could have men share in the washing.
True, and in fairness they should. That's why men invented the washing machine.